I hope you’re warm and safe! We’re going to have class at home today, so here’s what I’ve pulled together for you to explore. Remember, with Common Core, we’re all about real life–instead of just looking at bubbles on a test document, we want mulitple sources!

In class, we finished our poetry notes, so we have the language we need to ANALYZE some poetry.

Directions: Pick one of the poets below. Read three of his or her poems. Then, post a comment on this blog post explaining what the poems have in common. Use the constructs from our notes. For example, you might say —

“Wake”, “Dreams”, and “Life is Fine” all include beats that repeat. For example, in “Life is Fine,” Hughes uses a 7/6/7/6 pattern of syllables in each of his stanzas. This pattern creates a beat that makes his poems feel like music. In “Dreams,” Hughes uses a collection of one-syllable words: “Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird, that cannot fly.”

The landscape of education is changing from the idealistic world of John Milton and Horace Mann, who believed that a liberal arts education would prepare individuals to complete any task well and that every individual should have the same education. We’re moving back to an apprenticeship, career-driven educational system. Like any extreme pendulum swing, this will have both positive and negative consequences.

Ideas for staying relevant while incorporating history and geography into ELA:

Alright Everyone! I hope everyone is staying warm! Today, we’re looking at one of five MOODS the Common Core outline for VERBS. Think about how many moods you have (If you can’t think of five, ask your parents for help). 🙂